NASCAR: 5 playoff drivers who could already be in trouble
By Asher Fair
NASCAR playoff drivers who need to panic: No. 3 – Austin Cindric
Team Penske’s Austin Cindric effectively locked up his first career NASCAR Cup Series playoff berth in his first start of his first full season last year, winning the Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway.
This year’s Daytona 500 provided a far different result, as he crashed out and was scored in 23rd place. He only backed it up with a 28th place finish at Auto Club Speedway, and he sits in 18th in the point standings because of it. Last year at this time, he was the points leader — and he had literally never been below that position as a full-time Cup Series driver.
While Cindric struggled to post great results after his Daytona 500 win, recording just one top 10 finish in the next 14 races, he eventually went on a bit of a run, recording four straight top seven finishes. But without that Daytona 500 win, he would have missed the playoffs entirely.
In the last 12 races going back to the start of last year’s playoffs, he has just one top 10 finish. Is he capable of getting back to victory lane this year? If not, will he be able to do enough to qualify for the postseason on points?